[open] the city never sleeps at night [any]

[Reagan]

now don’t you understand…that I’m never changing who I am?

She heard him beg. Her body was pleading with her as well, to release them from this madness, to stop shuddering, to break apart, to let two beings who were once individuals break apart and continue on in their separate minds—But Reagan has always had a hard time listening.
 
She craved more.
 
The light bowed around them both, bringing their souls closer together until they were melded into one—he in her and she in him. Through this Ruan was able to see into her own past as well. The love lost when Plug died, her sons Ashley and Ewan on the throne, the Great War, the Alliance. Charlemagne and her campaign for power… All this and more. There was so much more that as Reagan looked up to the heavens, the light in her eyes splicing the clouds around them, willing the wind to release the snow to pelt down around them, she opened her mouth to say something—
 
And screamed.
 
Wrapped around Ruan, the images flashed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope of color, pushing the very remnants of her past and her love and her heart into places that she had never placed inside someone else for the entire age of her existence. She knew that she was doing this, regretted it, and yet found that she could not stop herself. She did not have the heart.
 
The sky around them was grey, and it continued to come down in sheets of snow that were almost indistinguishable from one to the other. The flowers that she had encouraged to grow withered and faded away once more, covered by the gails of flakes that once again covered the world in white. Reagan continued to pray in her head among the screams she was emitting, praying for release from this moment—but it was only when she was ultimately spent of her energy—and her magic shorted out—that she was able to disengage from him.

The grey mare leaned against him and groaned as they came back down to the ground, groaning aloud as her black mane came across her face, layered with sheets of sweat. Her eyes were black, the traces of green gone for the time being, her eyesight failing her, wrapping her in a world of blindness and dark.  Without her magic to protect her, she was helpless. Vulnerable.
 
Panting, she looked up unable to see the body she was counting on, hoping that she had answered his questions in full—receiving far more than she bargained for in return. She felt his heart beating inside her chest, and she blinked, unsure if he was aware of the sort of exchange that had taken place. She was forever changed, but she would say nothing for the moment. Instead, in her current state, barely able to make a sound, she had but one word to give.
 
“Ruan…”

[Ruan]

Ruan

---

Magic soared between them, lancing through their bodies. The hum of power deafened his ears and light played across his vision. He began to doubt Reagan's control over it. Time froze around him as if on the cusp of two different destinies; a fate for her alone to choose. She seemed to battle with her magic, or with herself.

He knew instantly when it happened. That pivotal moment where he'd be shoved back to harsh reality, or welcomed in this new world; a world of Reagan's creation.

Light enveloped them, gently pairing his soul with hers. They entwined and corded, a celestial dance. Nested together, blended as one. His heart soared with them.

He could see her past as he had been shown his. Did she do this knowingly? Were these images meant for him? His doubts fluttered across his consciousness.

He saw Reagan lose her love. He bore witness to her children on thrones, her granddaughter.. She had lived lifetimes. Eternal. She had seen far more loss than he had in his life, so short and insignificant compared to hers.

He was shown more images of her past, her life, as she poured them into him. Then he felt, too, her regret for doing it. His heart pinched with hurt at her regret, but he wasn't sure why. Did she not yet trust him? They hardly knew each other, after all. Could that even still be valid after this though? After each of their lives -loves, losses, mistakes- lay bare to the other without discretion?

As if from a different realm, he felt winds billowing around them.
Her scream ripped through him, shook his soul. His heart clenched, wishing he could ease her suffering. He wrapped himself around her in this dance of souls. Every last element of her being was poured into him with more visions. He knew her past, knew her regrets. He knew too, she chose to show him this. The life she lived played before him without a sound save for the humming of magic and her screams.

With her prayers echoing in his mind, and her screams in his ear, his ethereal being held her closer. He curled himself around her as if he could shield her. Magic buffeted at his soul, yet he held. In the distance, he felt wind still whipping around his body. The lick of snowfall continued to pelt them, and gently -so gently- he felt the earth solidify beneath them.

The light of her power dimmed, and he felt his soul being torn away from hers. No!  He fought against it, clutching at her with a primal need he didn't understand. But he held no power like hers and she was spent. Bitter recognition seeped into him with the realization that he didn't belong there anyway. He cringed and let go.

The thrumming in his ears fell to a whisper, then dropped into silence. Awareness returned to him slowly, his mind groggy. Colors around them seemed dull now as he opened his eyes. Ruan stood stiff and shaking as the last of the magic drained away and left him painfully empty again.

Reagan groaned, pulling his focus to her. Her body leaned heavily against him and her mane had plastered to sweat across her perfectly etched face.

What the hell was he doing here?

Panting, she looked up towards him, unseeing. Another groan from her fueled his heartbeat, and he realized he was also breathing heavily. Uncertainties and doubts clouded his mind. She's exhausted. She needs rest.

"Ruan.."

The sound of his name on her lips dragged a low guttural growl from him and his side pressed harder against her. Eyes closed and teeth clenched, he stifled the emotions raging for control over his body.

What the hell was wrong with him..

He guiltily thanked her temporary blindness that she could not see the feral hunger in his eyes. Light, gentle nudges belied the torrent within him as he coaxed her down carefully to the ground, never letting their contact break.

Her vulnerability rippled through him, and he concluded she had fed this to him through magic.

The earth rumbled beneath them, quivering under the rage of his power. Hard-packed ice walls stabbed through the soil around them. It was the thickest barrier he had ever formed and he didn't think anything could shatter it. Up and up it grew, until it tipped inward and laced across in an elegant weave. Sunlight passed through it onto them with a soft light.

"I have you," he said firmly, possessive or protective, he wasn't sure. He didn't know where he stood with her, what this meant for them. Did it mean anything?

"Rest now. You are safe," he whispered softly, brushing gently against her cheek. Ice blue eyes glanced over her swollen belly, concerned. He couldn't bear it if something happened to her child. This was his fault somehow. He shouldn't have asked her his questions, require her to use her magic to answer. Ruan silently vowed never to ask it of her again.

Sorrow struck him as he reviewed what he learned of his family. His sister.. He turned his face away despite her inability to see his heartbreak.

[Reagan]

now don’t you understand…that I’m never changing who I am?

They were like creatures in a snow globe. An army of two against the world, pushing against the factors surrounding them, for no matter how hard the world around them shook and turned, everything around them would stay the same for however long Ruan’s wall of ice would protect them from the elements. Reagan was still for the moment blind, breathing her warm breath against Ruan’s cheek.
 
Her chest heaved with the weight of the magic dissipating from her body. It would be a long time before anything would come from her in this regard. So spent was she that even the idea of moving now seemed foreign to her. And yet she continued to hear a heart beating inside her that was not hers. With the quiet returned and the adrenaline waning, the pounding that sounded in her ears was not the sound of her own heart. Gingerly, she moved her head down to Ruan’s chest, skin to skin to for warmth and reassurance that he truly wasn’t going anywhere, and heard the comforting echo of her own familiar heartbeat inside his chest. She sighed and closed her eyes, that, while currently sightless, were tired, and her lids fluttered closed for the moment. She did not fall asleep, but allowed herself for the first time in her entire recollection to just lay and be held by someone else, rather than having her being the strong one for once.
 
The images she had seen of her past—and of his—haunted Reagan’s mind’s eye. Reminded of the life he led, and the life he was even unaware of, she wondered if he would blame himself for any or all of the sins of his kin. Not currently being in possession of her natural set of abilities, she had nothing to hold to except the thought that the fact that he had erected a wall to see to her protection and wellbeing. The least she could do was calm his own shuddering and lean into the lee of the stone—
 
Her stone. Full of blarney as she was.
 
“I’m sorry. I did not know any other way to show you what you wanted to know, or how to describe it. I wanted you to understand it as you felt you needed. I did not mean to go overboard.”